Prices for mansions still in a slump in idyllic NJ neighborhood

Paterson, the third-largest city in New Jersey, has become home to a wide range of mansions. The Eastside Park neighborhood, in particular, is a community of 1,000 single-family homes surrounded by 66 acres of parkland near the Passaic River.

Mansions with five or more bedrooms tend to cost more than $700,000, while three- to four-bedroom houses are roughly $230,000. Real estate agent John Ammitzboll said he spent four years trying to sell an eight-bedroom mansion. The deal finally closed in August for $729,000.

But the tony neighborhood has not fared nearly as well as Manhattan following the financial crisis. Property values for an Eastside Park house dropped more than 35 percent after the housing crisis, according to the Wall Street Journal. Houses worth more than $300,000 in the boom are now valued at around $220,000, the Journal said. [WSJ] — Mark Maurer